Методы и механизмы геттерирования кремниевых структур в производстве интегральных микросхем

Увеличение степени интеграции элементной базы предъявляет все более жесткие требования к уменьшению концентрации загрязняющих примесей и окислительных дефектов упаковки в исходных кремниевых пластинах с ее сохранением в технологическом цикле изготовления ИМС. Это обуславливает высокую актуальность применения геттерирования в современной технологии микроэлектроники. В статье рассмотрены существующие методы геттерирования кремниевых пластин и механизмы их протекания.Збільшення ступеня інтеграції елементної бази пред'являє все більш жорсткі вимоги до зменшення концентрації забруднюючих домішок та окислювальних дефектів упаковки у вихідних кремнієвих пластинах за її збереження у технологічному циклі виготовлення ІМС. Це обумовлює високу актуальність застосування гетерування в сучасній технології мікроелектроніки. Розглянуто існуючі методи гетерування кремнієвих пластин та розглянуто механізми їх перебігу.Increasing the degree of integration of hardware components imposes more stringent requirements for the reduction of the concentration of contaminants and oxidation stacking faults in the original silicon wafers with its preservation in the IC manufacturing process cycle. This causes high relevance of the application of gettering in modern microelectronic technology. The existing methods of silicon wafers gettering and the mechanisms of their occurrence are considered

Genome-wide association analysis of genetic generalized epilepsies implicates susceptibility loci at 1q43, 2p16.1, 2q22.3 and 17q21.32

Genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs) have a lifetime prevalence of 0.3% and account for 20-30% of all epilepsies. Despite their high heritability of 80%, the genetic factors predisposing to GGEs remain elusive. To identify susceptibility variants shared across common GGE syndromes, we carried out a two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 3020 patients with GGEs and 3954 controls of European ancestry. To dissect out syndrome-related variants, we also explored two distinct GGE subgroups comprising 1434 patients with genetic absence epilepsies (GAEs) and 1134 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Joint Stage-1 and 2 analyses revealed genome-wide significant associations for GGEs at 2p16.1 (rs13026414, Pmeta = 2.5 × 10−9, OR[T] = 0.81) and 17q21.32 (rs72823592, Pmeta = 9.3 × 10−9, OR[A] = 0.77). The search for syndrome-related susceptibility alleles identified significant associations for GAEs at 2q22.3 (rs10496964, Pmeta = 9.1 × 10−9, OR[T] = 0.68) and at 1q43 for JME (rs12059546, Pmeta = 4.1 × 10−8, OR[G] = 1.42). Suggestive evidence for an association with GGEs was found in the region 2q24.3 (rs11890028, Pmeta = 4.0 × 10−6) nearby the SCN1A gene, which is currently the gene with the largest number of known epilepsy-related mutations. The associated regions harbor high-ranking candidate genes: CHRM3 at 1q43, VRK2 at 2p16.1, ZEB2 at 2q22.3, SCN1A at 2q24.3 and PNPO at 17q21.32. Further replication efforts are necessary to elucidate whether these positional candidate genes contribute to the heritability of the common GGE syndrome

No evidence for a BRD2 promoter hypermethylation in blood leukocytes of Europeans with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a common syndrome of genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs). Linkage and association studies suggest that the gene encoding the bromodomain-containing protein 2 (BRD2) may increase risk of JME. The present methylation and association study followed up a recent report highlighting that the BRD2 promoter CpG island (CpG76) is differentially hypermethylated in lymphoblastoid cells from Caucasian patients with JME compared to patients with other GGE subtypes and unaffected relatives. In contrast, we found a uniform low average percentage of methylation (<4.5%) for 13 CpG76-CpGs in whole blood cells from 782 unrelated European Caucasians, including 116 JME patients, 196 patients with genetic absence epilepsies, and 470 control subjects. We also failed to confirm an allelic association of the BRD2 promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3918149 with JME (Armitage trend test, P = 0.98), and we did not detect a substantial impact of SNP rs3918149 on CpG76 methylation in either 116 JME patients (methylation quantitative trait loci [meQTL], P = 0.29) or 470 German control subjects (meQTL, P = 0.55). Our results do not support the previous observation that a high DNA methylation level of the BRD2 promoter CpG76 island is a prevalent epigenetic motif associated with JME in Caucasians

Gene-disrupting microdeletions found only in patients with genetic generalised epilepsy.

<p>GGE, genetic generalised epilepsy; CTR: population control; Chr: chromosome, start/end: genomic start and end point of the deleted segment, hg19; ^<i>P</i>-value: type-1 error rate for a χ2-test with df = 1; OR, 95%-CI, odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. Disease phenotype: ASD: autism spectrum disorder, ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, AN: anorexia nervosa, AUT: autism, BPD: bipolar disorder, EE: epileptic encephalopathy, EPI: epilepsy, ID: intellectual disability, MCP: microcephaly, SCZ: schizophrenia; GGE syndromes: CAE: childhood absence epilepsy, JAE: juvenile absence epilepsy, JME: juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, EGMA: epilepsy with generalised tonic-clonic seizures alone predominantly on awakening, EGTCS: epilepsy with generalised tonic-clonic seizures alone, gsw: generalised spike and wave discharges on the electroencephalogram, number/: age-at-onset of afebrile generalised seizures. # previously published in [<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005226#pgen.1005226.ref026" target="_blank">26</a>] and * [<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005226#pgen.1005226.ref027" target="_blank">27</a>]. Bold gene symbols indicate genes previously implicated in epileptogenesis.</p><p>Gene-disrupting microdeletions found only in patients with genetic generalised epilepsy.</p

Functional gene enrichment and network analysis.

<p>Significant gene-set enrichments on 329 genes deleted in GGE patients revealed an enrichment of GRIN2B interacting proteins, genes of the MGI abnormal emotion/affect behaviour annotation and of the GO cognition annotation. Segmental clusters of genes belonging to a gene family were removed. Positional clustering of genes physically linked on a microdeletion is indicated by a slash between the gene symbols.</p><p>Functional gene enrichment and network analysis.</p

Investigation of GRIN2A in common epilepsy phenotypes

Recently, mutations and deletions in the GRIN2A gene have been identified to predispose to benign and severe idiopathic focal epilepsies (IFE), revealing a higher incidence of GRIN2A alterations among the more severe phenotypes. This study aimed to explore the phenotypic boundaries of GRIN2A mutations by investigating patients with the two most common epilepsy syndromes: (i) idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and (ii) temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Whole exome sequencing data of 238 patients with IGE as well as Sanger sequencing of 84 patients with TLE were evaluated for GRIN2A sequence alterations. Two additional independent cohorts comprising 1469 IGE and 330 TLE patients were screened for structural deletions (>40. kb) involving GRIN2A. Apart from a presumably benign, non-segregating variant in a patient with juvenile absence epilepsy, neither mutations nor deletions were detected in either cohort. These findings suggest that mutations in GRIN2A preferentially are involved in genetic variance of pediatric IFE and do not contribute significantly to either adult focal epilepsies as TLE or generalized epilepsies

Genome-wide association analysis of genetic generalized epilepsies implicates susceptibility loci at 1q43, 2p16.1, 2q22.3 and 17q21.32

Genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs) have a lifetime prevalence of 0.3 and account for 2030 of all epilepsies. Despite their high heritability of 80, the genetic factors predisposing to GGEs remain elusive. To identify susceptibility variants shared across common GGE syndromes, we carried out a two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 3020 patients with GGEs and 3954 controls of European ancestry. To dissect out syndrome-related variants, we also explored two distinct GGE subgroups comprising 1434 patients with genetic absence epilepsies (GAEs) and 1134 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Joint Stage-1 and 2 analyses revealed genome-wide significant associations for GGEs at 2p16.1 (rs13026414, P-meta 2.5 10(9), OR[T] 0.81) and 17q21.32 (rs72823592, P-meta 9.3 10(9), OR[A] 0.77). The search for syndrome-related susceptibility alleles identified significant associations for GAEs at 2q22.3 (rs10496964, P-meta 9.1 10(9), OR[T] 0.68) and at 1q43 for JME (rs12059546, P-meta 4.1 10(8), OR[G] 1.42). Suggestive evidence for an association with GGEs was found in the region 2q24.3 (rs11890028, P-meta 4.0 10(6)) nearby the SCN1A gene, which is currently the gene with the largest number of known epilepsy-related mutations. The associated regions harbor high-ranking candidate genes: CHRM3 at 1q43, VRK2 at 2p16.1, ZEB2 at 2q22.3, SCN1A at 2q24.3 and PNPO at 17q21.32. Further replication efforts are necessary to elucidate whether these positional candidate genes contribute to the heritability of the common GGE syndromes